Campus care: ACC Child Care Center serves multiple purposes

The helmets fall off a lot. The kids are pretty stable in their seats. Others play on sit-and-spins, or in the sand box or with a parachute in the playground.

This is one of the most important teaching tools at Alamance Community College’s Early Childhood Department — the ACC Child Care Center.

The center opened in 1976, said Jeanie Proctor, Child Care Center director and head of the Early Childhood Department. She calls it “the lab for the Early Childhood program.”

That is the first job. The second job is to care for up to 58 children from six weeks to five years old.

About 40 percent of the children at the center are the children of students, faculty and staff at ACC, Proctor said. The rest are from the community.

About 10 ACC classes send students to the center, all to do with education. That includes two required practicum courses, where students work in a child care center.

Proctor estimates there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of college students working in the center between practicums, part-timers and class visits.

It is a good place to put the information in the classroom to work.

“I have learned that you have to have a lot of patience,” said Genna Mattis, an Early Childhood student planning to graduate with her associate’s degree in December. She also works at the center.

“You just have to be able to be flexible. Not everything is going to go according to plan.”

This is also a benefit for the children, Proctor said, because the students give the children more adult supervision than they would get at most day care centers.

The college students can take a practicum in a number of good-quality centers, and many do, but it is hard to beat having a center on campus for convenience for both the students and instructors, Proctor said.

There are a limited number of five-star child care centers in the area, Proctor told the ACC Board of Trustees at a recent meeting. With the center on campus, instructors have more time to observe students with children. It is also easier on students who have limited transportation options.

The five-star rating comes from the state Division of Child Development and Early Education.

As of next week, there will be 50 children enrolled at the center, leaving eight open spaces for two to five year olds, Proctor said.

This is actually a problem, because the center is supposed to make a profit, which takes at least 53 children enrolled.

Some years the center makes a profit and other years it loses money. The average loss is about $6,800.

The center’s budget gets good reviews, but it is difficult to keep enrollment regular.

Whatever the enrollment, the expenses stay the same.

Tuition at the center is $140 to $160 per week depending on the age of the child, which is average for local five-star facilities.

The center is open all year, except for major holidays, and will accept enrolments at any time.

Proctor calls the center’s education philosophy a creative curriculum, meaning there is a hands-on approach rather than worksheets.

To contact the center call 506-4123 and ask for Proctor or Susan Norvell.